SaveArtSpace x THE HERE AND THERE COLLECTIVE with the support of Rosa Chang are pleased to present Reinventing Asia Futurism, a public art exhibition on billboard ad space in New York, NY, opening September 27, 2024. Curated by THE HERE AND THERE COLLECTIVE.

Reinventing Asia Futurism selected artists are Angelique De Castro, David Linchen, and Umber Majeed.

Reinventing Asia Futurism aims to subvert these outdated notions and highlight the complex realities of Asian futurity. As contemporary global dynamics shift, the interconnectedness of Asian communities in shaping their futures becomes more intricate and multifaceted, inviting a deeper exploration of historical, cultural, and technological contributions. How Asian identities can shape and be shaped by culturally and technologically advanced futures, and how these identities evolve within the larger global context. Historically, concepts such as techno-Orientalism have fed into stereotyped or exoticized depictions, portraying Asian countries as technologically advanced yet culturally alien.

Opening September 27, 2024, SaveArtSpace will launch public art installations for each selected work on billboard ad spaces in New York, NY. The public art will be on view for at least one month.

Selected Artists

Location: Atlantic Ave & Classon Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Angelique De Castro (b. 1994) is a sculpture and new media artist based in the unceded homeland of the Lenape people (Brooklyn, NY). Through the juxtaposition of ceramic sculpture, 3D animation, and interactive web art, De Castro creates characters and stories whose mythologies are shaped by the cross-sections of labor politics, queer/trans embodiment, and subversion of cultural narratives. They are a mostly self-taught visual artist.

Raised in suburban Los Angeles, CA by Filipino immigrants, De Castro's work is influenced by early 2000s animation, graphic novels, video games, and pre-colonial Filipinx cultures. Character design is a recurring subject in their explorations. Her figurative sculptures are contemporary embodiments of Dwende, mischievous dwarves in Filipino folklore, and reinterpretations of cultural icons like Jollibee whose childlike expressions belie their ulterior motives. Reimagined as 3D animated characters, they flip perceptions of their submissiveness and sweetness by enacting chaos or justice.

De Castro has exhibited their work at Keepsake Gallery and The Other Art Fair. They have been selected to exhibit in shows curated by Yarrow Lazer-Smith and Naomi Basu. They were an artist-in-residence at the Asian American Art Alliance in 2020. Their work has also been mentioned in The New York Times and featured in Google Arts and Culture.

Connect with Angelique on Instagram at @zaddy.gif, @ang.playground.

Location: Atlantic Ave & Utica Ave, Brooklyn, NY

David Linchen is a Brooklyn-based multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the intersection of materiality, memory, and transformation through diverse mediums and technologies. As a first-generation Asian American, Linchen’s reflective practice delves into themes of rebirth, time, and belonging. His various series involve archiving and world-building while oscillating between abstraction and representation. His work challenges conventional notions of permanence, resembling reassembled artifacts that invite contemplation on the fluidity of existence.

Connect with David on Instagram at @davidlinchen.

Location: Atlantic Ave & Utica Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Umber Majeed (b. New York, 1989) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and educator. She received her MFA from Parsons the New School for Design in 2016 and graduated from Beaconhouse National University in Lahore, Pakistan in 2013. Her writing, animation, and installations engage with familial archives to explore Pakistani state, urban, and digital infrastructure through a feminist lens.

Majeed has shown in and worked with venues across Pakistan, North America, and Europe. Majeed has had three solo exhibitions; ‘In the Name of Hypersurface of the Present’, Rubber Factory, New York (2018) and ‘Trans-Pakistan Zindabad (Facts about the Earth)’, 1708 Gallery, Richmond, Virgina (2021), and ‘Made in Trans-Pakistan’, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, NY (2022). She is a recipient of numerous fellowships including the HWP Fellowship, Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon (2017), Refiguring Feminist Futures Web Residency, Akademie Schloss Solitude & ZKM, Germany (2018), the Digital Earth Fellowship, Hivos, the Netherlands (2018-19), and the Technology Residency, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn (2020), and QM-Jerome Fellowship, Queens NY (2024-25). She is preparing for her upcoming solo exhibition at the Queens Museum in March 2025. 

Connect with Umber on Instagram at @u_mbr0.

Curator

The Here and There Collective is a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to highlighting and supporting the Asian diaspora through education, direct support, and community building.

Connect with The Here and There Collective on Instagram at @thehereandthereco.

SaveArtSpace

Founded in 2015, SaveArtSpace is a non-profit organization that works to create an urban gallery experience, launching exhibitions that address intersectional themes and foster a progressive message of social change. By placing culture over commercialism, SaveArtSpace aims to empower artists from all walks of life and inspire a new generation of young creatives and activists.